In a judgment of far reaching consequence, the Supreme Court today cancelled 122 2G –spectrum licenses sanctioned to several companies during the regime of A. Raja as communications minister.

Cancelling the licenses, the apex court said the licenses were issued in the most unconstitutional and arbitrary manner.

The court imposed a fine of Rs.5 Cr each on three telecom companies for offloading their shares after getting the licenses and asked the regulating body Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to make fresh recommendations on 2G allocation.

The division bench, consisting of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly, asked the government to take steps with in a month on the recommendations of the TRAI. “The spectrum allocation then must be done within four months through auctions.”

The order follows petitions filed by Janata Party president Dr Subramanyam Swamy and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, an NGO. The petitioners alleged while the 3G auctions fetched the government an amount Rs 69,000 Cr, the 122 licenses of 2G spectrum only fetched Rs.9000 Cr because of the corruption. The CAG also said the government suffered a presumptive loss of Rs.1.76 lakh Cr.

Uninor, Loop Telecom, Sistema Shyam, Etisalat DB, S Tel, Videocon, Tatas and Idea will now lose their licenses. The 122 licenses were given to these companies with Uninor bagging the highest number of 22 pan India licenses. (JUBS)